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| Dr Oteng-Adjei (right) being briefed at the smelter station |
WORK on a smelter substation to facilitate the evacuation of power from existing thermal plants to the national grid is expected to be completed by July this year.
Under the project, power will be directly injected at the new substation to ensure effective monitoring and control of power exchanges in the national power network.
Located on a four-acre land at the Tema Industrial Area, the project is to replace the old facility built hurriedly in 2006 and allow for effective interconnectivity of power across the board, in line with strategies geared towards ensuring that Ghana becomes a net exporter of power in the shortest possible time.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), Mr Charles Darku, told the Minister of Energy, Dr Joe Oteng-Adjei, who was on a tour of the facility yesterday, that two other projects, the CENIT and the Tema 1 Thermal plants which are being constructed to help address constraints in electricity supply were also expected to be completed by the end of the year.
He said another substation, the Third Bulk Supply Point, meant to install additional two 66 megavolt ampere (MVA) transformers to reduce pressure on the Achimota Substation would also be completed by July this year.
All the projects are being undertaken by GRIDCo at a cost of $70 million.
According to Mr Darku, the third bulk point, located at Adjiriganor in Accra, would take 30 per cent of the load on the Achimota transmission lines to improve power supply reliability and take on new expansion.
He admitted that the power transformers serving Accra were often loaded above their maximum ratings, hence the need to provide additional supply facilities to meet increasing demands.
He said the replacement of circuit breakers at the Tema Substation and the Akosombo Switchyard was also underway at a cost of $16.5 million, in line with efforts to replace old and obsolete equipment.
Mr Darku was of the hope that the current maintenance activities being undertaken would go a long way to address the power supply deficit in the system.
Dr Oteng-Adjei, who expressed satisfaction with work done so far, indicated that the availability of power was a major challenge facing the government.
He announced that following parliamentary approval given to the Chinese Development Bank (CDB) loan, $850 million, which is expected to be made available to the Ghana National Gas Company (GNGC) to begin the construction of a central processing facility, would enable the processing of natural gas.
That, he said, would do away with the over-dependence of the VRA on the West Africa Gas Company (WAGPCo) to power its thermal plants.
“At the moment, a discoverable gas of over 1.6 trillion is expected to be harnessed and hopefully by July issues for its exploitation would be addressed to pave way for enough power generation,” he said.
Dr Oteng-Adjei said the VRA and the ministry had converted most of the generating units to be able to work on light crude oil, so that anytime there is a problem with gas, generation could still be achieved.
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